Measuring Density Functional Parameters from Electron Diffraction Patterns

Abstract

We have integrated density functional theory (DFT) into quantitative convergent-beam electron diffraction (QCBED) to create a synergy between experiment and theory called QCBED-DFT. This synergy resides entirely in the electron density which, in real materials, gives rise to the experimental CBED patterns used by QCBED-DFT to refine DFT model parameters. We used it to measure the Hubbard energy, U, for two strongly correlated electron systems, NiO and CeB6 (UNiO = 7.4 +/- 0.6 eV and UCeB6 = 3.0 +/- 0.6 eV), and the boron position parameter, x, for CeB6 (x = 0.1992 +/- 0.0003). In verifying our measurements, we demonstrate an accuracy test for any modelled electron density.